BC political parties graded on commitments to
frontline health and social services
May 1, 2017
In the run up to the May 9 provincial election, the British Columbia Association of Community Health Centres
(BCACHC) has graded the three main political parties on their commitment to some core health and
healthcare issues for BC families and communities. The grades are based on parties’ responses to a
questionnaire that lists four recommendations to fix major gaps in health and social services throughout the
province. The parties received the following grades:
BC Green Party: D
BC Liberal Party: C+
BC New Democratic Party: A
The BCACHC encourages all BC residents to consider these grades and to visit www.bcachc.org/election2017
before voting. Today, the BCACHC issued the following statement:
“We thank the BC Liberal Party and BC NDP for responding and we urge the BC Green Party to do so over the
coming days so that BC residents can gauge the Party’s position on these important issues.
We are pleased to see the BC Liberal Party declare its support for team-based primary care in BC. This is an
important step forward. However, the Party did not respond specifically to the four questions tabled by the
BCACHC and did not indicate any commitment to addressing major gaps faced by agencies that are already
delivering team-based primary care throughout the province: Community Health Centres (CHCs). These gaps
are clearly described in the BCACHC’s April 2017 position paper and were recently underscored by Dr. Trevor
Hancock in the Times Colonist.
Instead, the Liberal Party has indicated that it would invest $90 million in team-based primary care based on
a “new model” being piloted in Kamloops. This confounds understanding, since a true commitment to teambased primary care would require commitment to addressing major gaps faced by the agencies already
providing these services. In addition to its silence on CHCs, the Liberal Party does not address the need for
integration of team-based primary care with prevention and community outreach services that address
social causes of illness – what are called the social determinants of health. We are left to speculate about
what the $90 million in spending on a “new model” will actually entail.
With respect to the BC NDP, we are very encouraged that the Party has expressed its full support for all four
recommendations tabled by the BCACHC and has clearly committed to acting on them as important
priorities, if elected. This includes commitment to filling the core funding gap faced by existing CHCs
throughout the province and to expanding CHCs by making them a central pillar of BC’s health system. The
NDP has opted to use the language “Urgent Family Care Centres” in describing its plan for expansion of
CHCs.
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In addition to the NDP’s commitment to expanding team-based primary care through these Urgent Family
Care Centres, we are further encouraged that the NDP has recognized the importance of integrating primary
care with community health and social services within these new centres to address social determinants of
health such as food security and housing. This reflects best practice for comprehensive primary health care
as promoted globally by the World Health Organization.
Whichever party is elected to form BC’s new government, the BCACHC looks forward to working closely with
both government and opposition parties to ensure that BC residents are provided access to the Community
Health Centre services and programs they want and deserve. This reflects the spirit of the all-party BC
Legislature Committee on Health which, in March 2017, strongly recommended that the BC Government
invest in Community Health Centres throughout the province.”
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Inquiries:
Grey Showler
President, British Columbia Association of Community Health Centres
Director of Health and Support Services - Victoria Cool Aid Society
713 Johnson Street
Victoria, BC V8W 1M8
[email protected]
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